TV turnoff

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TV Turnoff Week was launched by Adbusters magazine in 1994 and subsequently championed by TV-Free America (which then changed its name to the TV Turnoff Network). The TV Turnoff Network is an organization that tries to encourage children and adults to watch less television and so have more time for a healthier life and more community participation. It is a grassroots alliance of many different organisations.

So far over 30 million people have taken part and the TV Turnoff Network estimates that 20 million people took part in 2007. The designated weeks are:[1]

  • 2008 - April 21-27
  • 2009 - April 20-26
  • 2010 - April 19-25

In 2008 Adbusters changed the name of TV Turnoff Week to Mental Detox Week to reflect the growing predominance of computers and other digital devices.

Contents

[edit] Members and supporters

Important members of the network include Adbusters in Canada and White Dot in the UK (named after the small white dot that would briefly appear when turning off older TV sets, especially black-and-white ones). A related organization, Asesores TV La Familia Internacional works in many countries with large Spanish-speaking populations. In France, Casseurs de pub is part of the event[2].

More than seventy other organizations support the movement in the US, such as the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and the YMCA. (A complete list is available on the TV-Turnoff Network site.) In 2004, a major partnership was created with the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Anti-TV "guerrillas" use a small device known as TV-B-Gone to remotely turn off television sets within 14 meters in an attempt to reduce "ambient TV" in public space.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Screen Time. Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
  2. ^ http://www.casseursdepub.org/

[edit] Further reading

  • Postman, Neil (1994). The Disappearance of Childhood. London: Vintage. ISBN 0-679-75166-1. 
  • Winn, Marie (2002). The plug-in drug: television, computers, and family life. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-200108-2. 
  • Cheryl Pawlowski (2000). Glued to the tube: the threat of television addiction to today's society. Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks. ISBN 1-57071-459-2. 
  • Ellen Currey-Wilson (2007). The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books. ISBN 1-56512-539-8. 
  • Marie McClendon (2001). Alternatives to TV Handbook. Whole Human Beans Co. ISBN 0-9712524-0-8. 
  • Jean Lotus; Burke, David (1998). Get a Life!. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. ISBN 0-7475-3689-9. 

[edit] External links